Installing Windows 98, problems

[hristobg]

I've already tried it, can't recognize the USB. I don't know why. nLite didn't help, too.

[Stinky12]

It's because nLite was designed for XP not Windows 98.

 

 

[hristobg]

I tried with Windows XP, it created some WinLite.iso file which couldn't be booted after, I don't know why. It said just "INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER".

[Slamman]

The file you got with nLite?

I have to admit it's been awhile since I toyed with it, The site I linked is old enough some links to software are or could be dead now, if that's the case, use the file info in Google to find a more active link, That's what I do to chase effective links

 

This link discusses nLite, and USB for Win XP

http://superuser.com/questions/319340/nlit...table-usb-drive

Edited April 3, 2012 by Slamman

[Stinky12]

Don't you have a Win98 disc? If I remember correctly, that Win98 CD should boot.

[hristobg]

Yes, I have, but pirated. And there is no bootmgr, command.com and these kind of files there, just the installation. That's why I put them into the USB flash drive, but as I said earlier - I can't now boot the CD. And that's why I'm searching for an Windows 98 that can be installed from USB with all these "first-install" tools (and applications - command.com, bootmgr.exe, etc).

[Slamman]

I am not sure where mine is, but nLite allows you to set the install parameters, and create the installing WinXP format files to your HDD, then as a burnable image, I believe probably ISO, not sure at present, since I lost track of mine, but the situation was my Acer Aspire with a locked BIOS, it would refuse to see and boot from the optical drive, the HDD was corrupted

Try a few links I can find on the subject, should be something useful

 

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=668208

 

Well, Win98 would work, Stinky, but his disc was scratched, or the plan was to try and run XP on it instead, and I agree 6Gb is enough space, if your drive is around 2GB, you can run the OS but any storing of data should be on another device, which sounds like extra work, but it's seriously not a problem

 

I think some YouTube vids can also give some tips, close to what you might need

 

 

The Netbook re-formatting dilemma is much the same set of issues, no ODD to get a read from

 

 

The files CMD/Command which is in basic MS DOS, you can move from an installed Windows using find in the Windows folder, etc. Should be on an install the same as on the installer disc.

 

The USB video comments are also very helpful, like this one;

 

FlashtoUSB by Novicorp its free.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Slamman

[Stinky12]

Here is Win98 start up on a ISO.

Download and burn to a CD and you should be able to install Win98

http://www.mailbeyond.com/windows-98-boot-...wnload-this-iso

 

 

Edited April 3, 2012 by Stinky12

[hristobg]

That's all? I mean, last time I booted Windows 98 CD without any helping stuff like USB flash drive with boot files and floppies, etc, there was an error which said that there is no COMMAND.COM found.

 

Thank you though, going to try it.

 

EDIT: Now I actually opened the link and saw that it's not installation. Oh, fooly me.

[Stinky12]

I've check out that ISO file and it has all the commands you need to prepare your HDD for win98.

Warning 56K!

 

The contents inside that Win98 startup ISO

 

How to:

 

1. Boot from the ISO (disk contents may be different from the one you downloaded, it won't affect your Win98)

 

2. Run Fdisk

 

3. Format your newly created C:\ (before format, C:\ will say invalid, that's normal, just abort)

 

And command.com gets installed after format completes

 

4. Xcopy or Copy the Win98 files from your CD to the HDD (both commands will copy the Win98 setup files to your C:\)

or

 

5. Win98 files copied to C:\

 

6. Run setup

 

7. Set computer info

 

8. Customize Win98

 

9. Installing Windows 98

 

10. Updating

 

11. Booting Win98

 

12. Windows 98 installation is complete!

Edited April 4, 2012 by Stinky12

[Slamman]

Nice work there, it'll probably load on a 56K, since it's not HD stretching the page imagery

I checked the prior last link I found, this site is worth a bookmark as well, I don't have a blank USB thumb at present, but I'm going to do the same thing and prep it to hold Windows install files! It will work for Netbooks and perhaps some Ultrabooks as well

 

http://wintoflash.com/home/en/

[hristobg]

Thank you very much for your help, but still I can't figute out how to use both CD-ROM and HDD. Maybe it will work if I use a USB flash drive for that ISO, fdisk and format C:\ with it and then, if possible, to turn off the PC and put the HDD back in its old case in which CD-ROM and HDD work both properly. And from there to copy the Windows 98 files.

 

 

Thank you very much again, though.

[Stinky12]

When Win98 was available, USB boot never exist, so don't bother with that.

 

Some info on IDE...

 

Multiple devices on a cable

If two devices are attached to a single cable, one must be designated as device 0 (commonly referred to as master) and the other as device 1 (slave). This distinction is necessary to allow both drives to share the cable without conflict. The master drive is the drive that usually appears "first" to the computer's BIOS and/or operating system. On old BIOSes (Intel 486 era and older), the drives are often referred to by the BIOS as "C" for the master and "D" for the slave following the way DOS would refer to the active primary partitions on each.

 

The mode that a drive must use is often set by a jumper setting on the drive itself, which must be manually set to master or slave. If there is a single device on a cable, it should be configured as master. However, some hard drives have a special setting called single for this configuration (Western Digital, in particular). Also, depending on the hardware and software available, a single drive on a cable will often work reliably even though configured as the slave drive (most often seen where a CD ROM has a channel to itself).

 

You will also make sure in the bios, none of the drives are turned off.

[hristobg]

But I didn't understand how I would tell them which one to be a 0 device and which 1. Should be the HDD a "master"?

[Stinky12]

Yes, hard drives are usually set as Master while the CD-ROM are set as slave.

 

[Wolf68k]

I thought want he wanted to do with the USB stick was to make it like what you need a boot floppy for, to boot from and then install 98.

That's what I would do.

Win98 doesn't need to know or care that the boot floppy was really a USB stick.

[Stinky12]

I believe he's preparing the HDD on his new computer, which will support USB boot. On that old Pentium one. I doubt he can boot from USB.

[hristobg]

 

I believe he's preparing the HDD on his new computer, which will support USB boot. On that old Pentium one. I doubt he can boot from USB.

Yes, that's exactly what I am trying to do. But now I'm experiencing problems with defining which drive (HDD or CD-ROM) to be master and which slave. It just can't use both, as it seems. There is an auto and manual mode to find the hardware, connected to the IDE cable, but both are trying to be "masters".

 

 

Up the above I put the CD-ROM,

Below is the HDD,

And down at the bottom is the Motherboard.

Edited April 4, 2012 by hristobg

[Stinky12]

http://support.gateway.com/support/manlib/...73/08673c04.htm

[hristobg]

Tried it, switched them - on the end of the cable is HDD and in the middle is CD-ROM, but still the same.

[Stinky12]

Set the drive connected to the first connector as Master, the 2nd as Slave.

In bios set as Auto. BTW, is your new computer a Dell?

[hristobg]

Nope, if you talk about the PC case - it is delux. And it's not that new, just newer than the other one.

[Slamman]

The case name is not that effective, really, what you should have for all your HDD setups that you use and refer to is a software detective tool like Siv, PCWizard, Speccy, Everest, even running DX Diagnostic from the RUN menu can tell you DX driver reports and a system synopsis.

Windows allows this DX feature from all Windows supporting DirectX, which is quite a few! haha

 

Also, type DXDIAG in the Run command prompt (in the old START menu, no longer in Windows 8)

If you are setting your jumpers, start out using them in Select Cable for any and all, in the My Computer, add DMA for any you plan to use for multimedia access, that works better when in use

SC is very common for allowing the computer an auto-pilot directive in drive ordering

Edited April 4, 2012 by Slamman

[Stinky12]

Nope, if you talk about the PC case - it is delux. And it's not that new, just newer than the other one.

So you got it working yet?

[hristobg]

I'm starting to give up, I should better take it to some PC service and pay 20 bucks. It's been a week and I still can't find anything that helps.

[Stinky12]

Just curious, you ever actually pay attention to the back side of your IDE drives?

If you have, you'll notice your problems.

[hristobg]

Yes, of course. And how would I notice them? There is just a place for IDE cable, a power cable and 2 other ports that I don't know for what they are. So far, for one week my PC case is opened and I didn't notice my problems.

[Stinky12]

As Rafiki said to Simba while he was looking at his reflection, look harder...

You check out that Gateway support link, no?

[hristobg]

Is there something to be checked on? There is not a single cable from the PCU like that. I don't get what you mean.

[Stinky12]

Yes, that Gateway support link maybe your answer to your problems.

http://support.gateway.com/support/manlib/...73/08673c04.htm

You really have to remove the IDE CD-ROM out of your case to actually see what I'm talking about.

Edited April 5, 2012 by Stinky12